Adjustable pipe wrench



5, 1963 w. MIRANDA 3,109,334

ADJUSTABLE PIPE WRENCH Filed May 22, 1961 INVENTOR William Miranda,

BY 9. ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,109,334 ADJUSTABLE PIPE WRENCH William Miranda, Welch Road, Ringwood, NJ. Filed May 22, 1961, Ser- No. 111,561 2 Claims. (Cl. 81-100) The present invention relates to an adjustable pipe wrench and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Generally there is provided an elongated shank of rectangular cross section and having a handle forming offset extension, a head member having a shank-embracing slot therethrough, a crescent-shaped wrench jaw pivotally connected to said head member so as to be swingable to and from a position in which its toothed inner surface opposes the similarly toothed upper end of said shank and a spring-pressed dog having a ratchet adjustably engaging one of either set of teeth formed in opposite edges of said shank.

It is an object of this invention to provide a pipe wrench having a unitary shank and handle the axes of which are relatively offset and a head adjustable along said shank and reversible thereon to shift the offset handle from one side of the shank axis to the other side thereof.

It is another object to provide such a wrench in which the reversibility of the head is effected simply and economically by the use of a single dog on the head and two sets of alternately usable cooperating teeth on opposite edges of the shank.

A further object is to provide an adjustable pipe wrench that is simple in construction, easy to adjust and use, inexpensive to manufacture and yet highly effective and efficient in use.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the upper half of the showing of FIGURE 1 from the right side thereof, and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view in section as on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 but showing a slightly modified form of the invention.

With reference now to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, the numeral 11 generally designates the wrench as a whole. Wrench 11 comprises a head member 12 which may be a steel casting or may be cast of other metals or alloys or may be built up from side plates and spacers (not shown) if preferred.

lead member 12 has a body portion 13 provided with a vertical slot 14 of rectangular cross section which slidably embraces the rectangular shank 15 of the wrench handle generally designate-d 16 and having an offset hand grip portion 17. The offset in the grip portion increases the versatility of the wrench especially for working on difiiculty accessible pipes or fittings.

The reversibility of the handle 16 relative to the head member 12 is provided by the use of two sets of ratchet teeth 18 and 19 formed in opposite edges of the shank 15, each being alternately engageable by the ratchet edge 20 of the jaw adjusting dog 21.

The dog 21 is a (cast) metal block having an operating knob 22.. Dog 21 is pivotally mounted by pin 23 be tween two integral ears 24 and 25 (FIG. 2). A spring 26 coiled around pin 23 and having its ends received in notches or bores in the head 12 and dog 21 biases the ratchet edge 29 of dog 21 into head-anchoring selected positions. It should be noted that the dog 21 is so constructed that the jaws can be moved toward each other 3,109,334 Patented Nov. 5, 1963 by a ratchet action not requiring manipulation of the knob 22 (as is needed for increasing the jaw size).

The swingable self-tightening jaw of the wrench 11 is a crescent-shaped cast element 27 having pipe-gripping teeth 23 on its inner periphery. law 27 is swingably connected by a pivot pin 29 to and between the spaced parallel ears 30 and 31 integrally connected to the edge of head member 12 opposite the dog 21.

The upper fiat end of shank 15 is similarly provided with pipe-gripping teeth 32. A pin 33 frictionally retained in a bore traversing the upper portion ofshank 15 may be employed to arrest downward movement of the shank 15 through the slot 14 in the head member 1-2, the latter being optionally notched at 34 for engagement with said stop pin.

In the species of FIG. 3, primed numerals are employed to designate the parts identical with their unprinted numeral counterparts in FIGS. 1 land 2. This modification of the invention differs from the first described species only in the use of a jaw-closing spring 35' coiled around the pivot pin 29 and having its ends received in a notch 36 in jaw element 27' and a bore 37.

To adjust the jaws for gripping smaller pipes or fittings, it is merely necessary to slide the head 12 or 12 downwardly over the upper end of shank 15 or 15. The ea-mmed face of dog 21 ratchets over the teeth 19 or 19' until the desired jaw adjustment is obtained. The spring 26 or 26 is sufficiently strong to hold the selected adjustment against gravitational or moderate handling forces.

To effect reversal of the offset of the hand grip, it is merely necessary to slide the head member down and off the lower end of the handle 16, which is then turned through and reinserted into the head member.

The spring 35 (FIG. 3) urges the jaw 27' toward closing position thereof, an action that is manually or gravitationally produced in the species of FIGS. 1 and 2.

While but two forms of the invention have been shown and described herein, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A pipe wrench comprising: a handle including a shank portion and a grip portion, said portions having their axes offset in a forward-rearward direction, at least the shank portion of said handle being substantially rectangular in transverse cross-section, a head member having a passage therethrough of a size and shape for slidably closely surrounding said shank portion, a crescentshaped jaw member pivoted to said head member so as to be swingable to and from a position for gripping a pipe or the like between the inner surface of said jaw member and the free end of said shank portion, adjustable means for releasably locking said head against motion at least toward the free end of said shank portion, whereby said head member can be removed from said handle for reversed replacement thereon to reverse the offset of said grip portion relative. to said wrench, said adjusting means being a pivoted ratchet-type dog engageable with notches cut in opposite edges of said shank portion, and a spring carried by said head portion and engageable with said dog for urging the same toward locking engagement with said notches.

2. A wrench according to claim 1, said dog having a (References on following page) References Cite in-the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kennedy May 4, 1897 Barnes Aug. 28, 1900 Johnson Iran. 6, 1903 Johnson Nov. 17, 1908 Fessler Feb. 12, 1918 Mitchell Dec. 27, 1921 Bratton Dec. 26, 1922 Fella Sept. 22, 194-2 Haist et a1. Oct. 25 1949 Nolen Sept. 20, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Mar. 2" 1908 

1. A PIPE WRENCH COMPRISING: A HANDLE INCLUDING A SHANK PORTION AND A GRIP PORTION, SAID PORTIONS HAVING THEIR AXES OFFSET IN A FORWARD-REARWARD DIRECTION, AT LEAST THE SHANK PORTION OF SAID HANDLE BEING SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR IN TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTION, A HEAD MEMBER HAVING A PASSAGE THERETHROUGH OF A SIZE AND SHAPE FOR SLIDABLY CLOSELY SURROUNDING SAID SHANK PORTION, A CRESCENTSHAPED JAW MEMBER PIVOTED TO SAID HEAD MEMBER SO AS TO BE SWINGABLE TO AND FROM A POSITION FOR GRIPPING A PIPE OR THE LIKE BETWEEN THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID JAW MEMBER AND THE FREE END OF SAID SHANK PORTION, ADJUSTABLE MEANS FOR RELEASABLY LOCKING SAID HEAD AGAINST MOTION AT LEAST TOWARD THE FREE END OF SAID SHANK PORTION, WHEREBY SAID HEAD MEMBER CAN BE REMOVED FROM SAID HANDLE FOR REVERSED REPLACEMENT THEREON TO REVERSE THE OFFSET OF SAID GRIP PORTION RELATIVE TO SAID WRENCH, SAID ADJUSTING MEANS BEING A PIVOTED RATCHET-TYPE DOG ENGAGEABLE WITH NOTCHES 